Former Canterbury Bulldogs rugby league player Ryan Tandy (C) has been charged over his alleged involvement in a failed NRL betting plunge last year. (Photo by Getty Images)

From The Coalition of Major Professional and
Participation Sports (COMMPS) MELBOURNE, June 8, 2011 - Australia’s seven major pro
sports have called for sports corruption to be made a crime with penalties of
up to 10 years jail for very serious cases of corruption.

They outlined their
concerns on Tuesday to Federal Sports Minister, Senator Mark Arbib, who will
take the proposal to a meeting of all Australian Federal and Territory Sports
Ministers later this week.

The Coalition of Major
Professional and Participation Sports (COMPPS) said that the trust Australian
fans have in the legitimacy of sports results is critical to the
survival of those sports.

COMPPS Chairman James
Sutherland said there had been few instances of betting-related corruption in
Australian sport and major sports had been successful in dealing with
the issue to date.

But the growth of sports
betting and the increase in the types of bets that can be placed
increased the risk that people could be tempted to cheat.

“Even the perception that
something could be wrong is enough to undermine a sport’s public credibility,”
he said.

The CEOs of the seven
COMPPS sports – the AFL, ARU, Cricket Australia, FFA, Netball Australia, the
NRL and Tennis Australia – met on Tuesday to endorse a COMPPS
Anti-Corruption Working Party
paper which has made three major recommendations, that:

1.Nationally consistent,
sports-specific criminal legislation

to create an offence of
“cheating in connection with sports wagering”

accompanied by severe
penalties.

2. Victoria’s Sports
Betting Act be adopted in all States and

Territories so that all
events on which betting is available are included

and all betting providers
are required to enter into an agreement with

sports to enable the
exchange of information including providing details

of suspicious betting and
to establish a framework for the payment of a

fee for the use of the
sport’s intellectual property.

3.Sports have a right to
veto types of “spot-betting” in

response to serious
integrity concerns.

COMPPS also agreed to
establish a Betting Integrity Group (BIG) with one member from each sport to
co-ordinate joint activity between members and to use the sports’
collective power to combat corruption in sport.

The recommendations
followed COMPPS Executive Director Malcolm Speed chairing of a working party of
members from COMMPS member organisations, representatives from betting agencies
Tabcorp and Betfair, the Australian Sports Commission and the AFL and NRL Players’
Associations.

The CEOs of the respective
COMPPS member organisation met today at AFL House in Melbourne.

“The recommendations
detailed in the working party paper set out to preserve the integrity of
Australian sport and stem from a desire from professional sports to
stamp out betting related corruption,” Mr Sutherland said.

“They are individual and
collective actions designed to minimise opportunities for
corruption and arm sports governing bodies with the ability to deal with
corruption effectively if and when it affects Australian sport.”

"Adopting the
Victorian Sports Betting Act in all states and territories was identified as a
priority as it commands sports betting providers to reach an information
exchange and product fee agreement with sports prior to providing betting
services for an event.

“The availability of
detailed betting information through such an agreement empowers sports
to better monitor betting activity and investigate instances of
corruption.

“The third priority
recommendation, the right of veto for sports over types of “spot-betting”,
equips sports with the authority to counter one of the areas of sports
betting most susceptible to corruption.